The present invention relates generally to hinges for mounting automotive vehicle doors and more particularly to self-aligning hinge assemblies to compensate for any initial misalignment of the door hinges.
Automotive doors are typically attached to the vehicle body using a pair of hinge assemblies. A hinge assembly generally consists of a door mounting plate, a body mounting plate, and a pivotal connection (hinge pin) joining the two plates. Ideally the axis of rotation of the two hinge assemblies is aligned along a single pivot axis that extends through the pins. In practice, slight variations occur during the manufacturing process in the door mounting post and the door itself. This typically results in a small misalignment of the individual pivot axes of the door hinges and can lead to reduced ease of operation, excess wear of the hinge assemblies, and misalignment of the door relative to the vehicle body, if not corrected.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,227 discloses a self-aligning hinge wherein the hinge pin has a spherical convex surface for engaging a concave surface of one of the hinge straps permitting variance in the relative orientation of the hinge pin to the hinge strap. U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,690 also discloses a self-aligning hinge wherein the hinge pin allows the relative orientation of hinge butts to be varied in order to align the axis of rotation of one hinge with a second hinge. The hinge pin is a slender cylinder that includes a ball-shaped part in the mid portion, upper and lower rods, and two sets of steel ball assemblies mounted on both ends of the ball-shaped part to provide rolling friction between the center shaft and the butts. In both of these patents, a complex hinge pin is used as the mechanism whereby one hinge is aligned with another hinge.
It would be desirable to have a door hinge assembly that provides for variance in the orientation of the hinge pin axis, while at the same time is simple, inexpensive, and easily manufactured.